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Saturday, September 27, 2014

I kind of could not buy a break today. Very early on it became ridiculous enough that I just started to laugh. I record it here in hopes you, too, can find the humor in it.

I sometimes take extra work to pad the coffers. I do have a lot of pets and a singing habit to support. Today I was slated to work the Spoonable table at the Chili Pepper Festival. Just last night I signed on to go an hour earlier to help unload. Here's how that went:

Had my period so not feeling 100%.

Get up just after dawn and walk the dog.

Come back and turn on the shower. Stick my hand in to check the temp. Temp is freezing and not getting better. I proceed to stand at the very back of the shower and dip parts of me into the icy waterfall until the important parts are clean.

Take just one advil because I'm trying to be virtuous.

Get myself to my ride and proceed to the garden where we have help unloading and one colleague is waiting for me. We get to our station and start to set up.

The tent is missing part of one leg. It is unusable. It's warming up to the mid-80s, we're in a sunny location, and serving food. I call M and she goes shopping for a tent...amongst both Halloween and Christmas decorations in the local big stores.

While waiting to hear back from M I continue setting up, crouch down to pick up a box and riiiiiiiiiiip goes the very, VERY upper thigh of my jeans.

Well, it's sunny and mid-80s so I take off my long sleeved shirt and tie it around my waist. I didn't intend for anyone to see me in this particular tank top after my cursory shower but them's the breaks.

I put on my sunglasses and slap on some sunscreen because, wow, I am not fully exposed to the rays.

Our other colleague arrives, we finish setting up. M calls to say she's not having luck and I should ask the garden folks if they have a tent we can use. They say they'll see what they can do.

We proceed to serve tastes and sell jars of caramel to the expected 11,000 guests. We do not stop talking to people or moving from 11:00am until the festival closes at 6:00pm. I did get a chance to take one bathroom break and didn't bleed on any of my clothing.

About noon M calls to say that she has a patio umbrella and she's on her way but we'll have to fill the base with water. When I tell L she points to the tent that the garden folks have just that second dropped off for us. M returns the umbrella and I flag down two maintenance guys who super kindly help us erect the tent and the surrounding crowd cheers. I pay those men in caramel.

Around 3:00pm, with plenty of product left to taste and sell L turns to me and says, "We're out of tasting spoons." We had 1 and 2/3 boxes of tasting spoons at 11:00am. Each box contains, I believe, 10,000 spoons. I am incredulous but she is correct. I call M. She is also incredulous. People still want tastes. M troubleshoots for a new tasting delivery device while....[description of what we did while we waited for her to come to us with a solution is redacted in case the health department is reading, it wasn't strictly against regulations but it wasn't strictly adhering to them either and I still can't believe people we cool with it, like everyone from kids to old grandmas, it was hilarious].

M arrives with a box of coffee stirrers and we closed out the day. She drove us home and there was some traffic but it was nice to be in the car with the AC so all was well.

My grocery delivery even came early...but with one item wrong. But they issued me a credit and didn't need that [number redacted] pint of ice cream anyway.

So now I'm sitting on the couch watching old episodes of The Young Riders and contemplating another advil. It's also becoming distractingly clear that I won't be able to reach the sunburned parts of me to apply soothing gel because I couldn't reach them to put sunscreen on them in the first place. Fortunately they're small sections of me and I'm sure I'll survive.

3 comments:

don't you love days that feel like a never-ending comedy of errors? glad you survived the day, at least. :)

we painted the kitchen yesterday. and i bungled up my knee somehow, so walking stairs and climbing ladders were both very difficult. but the kitchen is a new color! huzzah! and today we've successfully taken out carpet stains from Deckard's illness...that nothing else could touch (things tried include white vinegar, lemon juice, Nature's Miracle, Simple Green, bleach, and regular carpet cleaner solution...all via a Bissell steamer or a brush and elbow grease). OxyClean powder is magical...and maybe now i won't be ashamed to have friends visit the house.

I'm so thankful that Festival season is mostly finished. For us anyway. It's just exhausting. Just exhausting when everything goes perfectly. With all of these things you navigated? I'd still be in the bed. xoxo

ouch and glad you survived. some days never rise above that, sounds like you redeemed the ending at least :). and ... D and F were both there! part of a birthday thing, i know they bought chocolate bars somewhere but doubt they walked the whole thing. how's the burn doing? and i'm dying to know what you used as tasting "spoons" ...